T-G Sports Writer SAVANNAH Journeying traffic beyond

Doug HaidetPublished: July 11, 2006 12:00AM

By DOUG HAIDET
T-G Sports Writer
SAVANNAH Journeying traffic beyond its outfield fences is the only thing keeping Clear Creek Park from feeling like some kind of limited youth league getaway.
Surrounding the Savannah destination, wedged between U.S. 250 and Ohio 545, tree-lined property borders and the peaceful flow of a cattail-lined river is drowned out by the sights and sounds of sport.
At 4:45 p.m. on a Thursday, those noises blend with the nose-nipping scent of buttered popcorn, the roaring of a multi-task mower and the shuffling feet of Kelly Purvis and Scott Graybeal, two people who help put summer nights in motion at the 3-year-old facility.
Purvis, the Savannah Youth Leagues secretary, treasurer and head of concessions, has to wash her popcorn butter-glazed hands to offer an introduction. She squeezes the handshake between tending to $1 hot dogs, prepping soft pretzels under a heat lamp and readying some fan-favorite shredded chicken.
Were told we have the best chicken sandwiches around, she says while bagging popcorn.
Walking shoes are required when talking to Graybeal, the president of the league.
Some nights lining the fields with precision and stirring up winded swirls of dragged dirt, other nights scheduling makeups for a possible 11 leagues, Graybeal cant stop praising his help.
If you want to see volunteers at their best, its here, he says, bouncing from field to field like a pinball.
It takes players, which have nearly doubled in number at the park in three years, to give the place a heartbeat.
At 6 p.m. on this night, the slate of contests at the four-field complex consists of three baseball games for varying ages and a girls softball matchup.
Arriving from starting points that include Union, Nankin, New London, Sullivan and West Salem, teams settle in at a place where calls of heads up are as constant as hello.
Players in this nights most youthful matchup try out new release points for new-found pitches. Others with untied shoelaces take flailing swings that spin them into the ground during batting practice while catchers yield to the weight of their hefty leg and chest guards.
Fold-out chairs now lining the backstops, the softball teams begin their synchronized cheering, hoping to connect for hits that echo a resounding ting.
Between field Nos. 1 and 4, young, antsy siblings explore and hang like monkeys from gadgets on the parks play area.
At 6:15 p.m., Purvis relays orders from spectators who mill up to the windows looking for a quick fix of sugar or a hunger-halting red hot. On the other end of Purvis requests are Stephanie Knowlton and Sherrie Wingrove, who help satisfy with hot sellers like nachos and cheese and Big League Chew.
The crucial volunteer element is distinct at the food stand, open six days a week. Purvis says each players parent is assigned to the window for parts of one night, and six of the 14 main helpers dont even have kids involved.
She cant stop talking about it, pumping cheese onto an order of nachos with the new cheese machine, dubbed a Godsend.
A girl no older than 6 gets her chance at practicing manners, weaving her way around the jackets and mixed items that spill from the lost and found on her way to the food stand. The girl squeaks out her request for a Cheese pizza, please, before giving her thank-you to the helper who hands it to her.
The girl the only one to handle for the time being, Wingrove sighs, Look at me, I get to sit down.
Around the corner from the open concession window, Graybeal organizes a time and location change for a game on his cell phone, one still playing out over his shoulder.
With sponsor signs and scoreboards adorning just two of the four fields, and lights looming over just one, evidence of remaining progression still exists at the park, but its enough to keep Graybeal happy for now.
This is definitely what I envisioned when we were getting things moving with it, he says, nearly voiced over by parents requests to hustle and wait for a good pitch.
Eyes are shaded from the sun by hands and sunglasses on this day, a day made for baseball, and, for a few hours, traffic is replaced by applause and laughter.
n Contact Doug Haidet, sports writer, at 419-281-0581, ext. 245, or dhaidet@times-gazette.com.